Introduction
Leaders are responsible for establishing the substantive and purposeful focus of the organization, that is, for establishing continuous creation of customer value as the strategic thrust. They are responsible for determining value elements, tracking discovered elements, and anticipating customer value changes. They must also provide the means of creating that value, that is, creating, providing, and continuously improving strategic organizational systems (Armandi et al 2003). Leadership consists of managers leading purposeful, value contributing organizations and providing the means of achieving the purpose by improving strategic systems. The word “leadership” is appended to the word “management” to emphasize that leaders must lead the organization to the appropriate strategic focus of customer value. This organizational leadership differs from the classical interpersonal processes emphasized in traditional leadership models (Bolman and Deal 2003).
As an employee, I am looking for new challenges which can shape my professional and help me to become a good leader able to motive and inspire followers. In this assignment, I will analyze and evaluate three personalities of well-known leaders who possess unique leadership skills and values. For this assignment, I select three characteristics of leadership characteristic common for three leaders: Mr. Carlos Ghosn, Sir Alex Ferguson, and Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. I will use critical and theoretical literature In order to analyze their leadership skills and abilities, motivation techniques, and behavior patterns.
Three personalities selected for this study are:
- Sir Alex Ferguson, the coach of called Manchester united (see appendix “A”). I watched three interviews on channel SBS, and I also used the internet database, Youtube to collect more information about these leaders.
- Mr. Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of the Renault-Nissan Corporation (see appendix “B”). I read an interview with Carlos Ghosn in Business Week, and also watched an interview with Carlos Ghosn on YouTube.
- Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the prime minister of Dubai (see appendix “C”). I watched his interview on the National Geographic channel and I watched several interviews on YouTube.
These three leaders have much in common which helps them to achieve global recognition and personal success. This assignment will help me to analyze and critically evaluate their skills and strategies used to lead their follower and motivate them. The assignment consists of three main parts describing and analyzing three common characteristics of these leaders: motivating and inspiring techniques, development of employees, and risk-taking. Each section is based on a theoretical literature review and analysis of each leader’s characteristics.
Discussion Section
Definition of Leadership
At the beginning of the 21st century, leadership still remains a complex issue involving administration, management, directing, and control mechanisms. In the business sphere, leading is the most basic of activity because it determines objectives and purposes. “Leadership processes are directed at defining, establishing, identifying, or translating this direction for their followers and facilitating or enabling the organizational processes that should result in the achievement of this purpose” (Zaccaro and Klimoski, 2001: 6-7). Personal leadership style is a unique combination of different principles and strategies aimed to motivate and inspire employees, manage and control their works in order to achieve organizational or project objectives and goals. More specifically, the attitudes of public leaders are conceived to be organized within the framework of either continental or segmental orientations (Carlopio et al 2005).
Inspiring and Motivating as the Main Leadership Strategy
Inspiring can be explained as the ability to inspire energy, to enthuse others, that history records so clearly in the lives of great leaders. That self-perception has two main disadvantages (Charan et al 2001). First, a severe physical and mental toll has to be paid by the leader. Secondly, it breeds dependence. A better approach would be to see the power or energy as already there within the people (Zaccaro and Klimoski 2001).
An Example of Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alex Ferguson possesses a unique ability to inspire young players and motivate them. The interviews show that his personal example is one of the best methods which help Sir Alex Ferguson to inspire the young player. As a leader, he is concerned with emotion and motive. Where people are essentially self-motivating and fully committed, attempts to make them more so can actually be counterproductive (An Interview with Sir Alex Ferguson 2008).
An Example of Mr. Carlos Ghosn
A similar strategy is used by Mr. Carlos Ghosn. The collected materials show that his words and example are more like triggers than dynamos. Where there is low morale, people are ‘switched off in terms of the energy devoted towards the task that has to be done. Their attitude is one of indifference or defeatism. In such situations, the leader must impart a positive attitude, stir up the energies of the group and redirect them into a path that is likely to lead to results (Power of Collaborative Innovation 2008).
An example of Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum
The uniqueness of the leadership approach followed by Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum is that he, as a leader, usually communicates on several levels at the same time. While he is imparting information (or listening to it) he or she is also communicating ideas and values, feelings, and emotional energy. He is looking for a response on this level: a change in morale that will lead to the more energetic pursuit of attainable success. As a good leader, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum is not an impersonal transmitter of information. He communicates his inner thoughts, emotions, and spirit. In particular, he imparts energy (An Interview … 2008).
The style and skills of the three leaders can be described as transformation leadership. Schermerhorn et al (2004) describe that transformational leadership as a leader who is truly inspirational and a leader who influence others to achieve extraordinary result from high potential performance, moreover, Schermerhorn, et. al., believe that motivational work has been done from a leader towards his employees whose performance accomplishments help the organization achieve their goals. The leaders selected for analysis, have the ability to inspire while they inform.
Employees’ Development Strategy
Training and development are essential parts of successful leadership. Training allows the leaders to prepare employees for complex tasks and help them to deal with problems. Following Cole (2005), leaders cannot separate the development of employees from personal development and self-improvements. A good leader learns from his employees:
Everyone needs training at times. People who are new to your department and the organization need both introduction and job training. Experienced workers often need the training to update or add to their skills and knowledge or to lift their current job performance. All employees need ongoing support and training to work effectively with changing methods and technology (Cole, 2005:756).
An Example of Sir Alex Ferguson
Personal development and growth strategies used by Sir Alex Ferguson include the improvement of rest and training facilities, the reinforcement of disciplinary standards. In sport, training and development are the main factors that help to achieve success. Sir Alex Ferguson combines training with behavioral models for behavioral change and subordinate satisfaction. Modeling interventions led to changes in behavior and subsequently to subordinate satisfaction. The uniqueness and value of his vision and approach to training and development are that Sir Alex Ferguson does not put all his attention on buying a player from overseas, but encourages other players to do their best and improve their personal skills and knowledge. he also gives a second chance to every player interested in the team and his position (Segriovanni and Glickman 2006).
An Example of Mr. Carlos Ghosn
Mr. Carlos Ghosn sees training and development as the main methods to improve organizational performance and increase productivity. A number of those whose fundamental interests are in leadership effectiveness and training felt that progress would be facilitated by greater attention to underlying specific behavioral processes Mr. Carlos Ghosn follows the so-called “skills approach.” He argues that modern organizations need to go beyond the traditional task and socio-emotional categories of behavior, this should be in the direction of identifying the basic building blocks of interactions (Power of Collaborative Innovation 2008).
An Example Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum
Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum underlines that the development of employees is the main task and duty of a government official. The value of individual training receives a more fundamental challenge from Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. He states that managerial behavior is powerfully influenced by the culture within which it is located. Cultural factors are also seen to influence organizational outcomes. Thus he argues that organizational dysfunctions will probably require interventions at that level, rather than individual training and development (An Interview … 2008).
Risk-Taking
To some extent, all leaders are risk-takers relying on intuition and personal vision of events and life situations. Kouzes and Posner (1995) underline that “The search for opportunities beyond tradition is an exploration of the new. It requires individual creativity and organizational innovation” (Kouzes and Posner, 1995:62). Risk-taking is closely connected with intuition and the selection of the right direction. In order to guide a group, organization, or nation in the right direction a leader needs the ability to think and decide. It could be called the intellectual dimension of leadership. Practical reason, intuition, and imagination are all included under that heading. Kouzes and Posner (1995), argued that whenever leaders start to innovate they put themselves and others at risk of the unknown result of the innovation is it going to benefit the organization or not.
Sir Alex Ferguson
A personal example of Sir Alex Ferguson shows that risk-taking is the main ‘tool’ that helps him to succeed and become one of the best coaches in the world. Risk-taking is explained in his ability to guide a problem-solving or decision-making body, whose members may have different mental abilities as well as different personalities. Thinking, analysis, and attention to detail are the main skills used by Sir Alex Ferguson. The ability to make things happen is essential. It helps immeasurably if a leader creates a climate of energetic purpose, in which people do what has to be done in a calm and collected way (An Interview with Sir Alex Ferguson 2008).
Mr. Carlos Ghosn
Mr. Carlos Ghosn uses a unique approach that helps him to accept risk and compete on a global scale. In this context, imagination and intuition are closely related. The leader needs imagination in many situations: price setting and design, market entry strategies, and global position as a premium brand. Mr. Carlos Ghosn explains that he has to think things out for himself and then suspiciously try out possible ways of getting where he wants to be — and the solutions to these problems are not in books, nor can they be recalled from his memory bank. He has to originate or innovate, and he cannot innovate by following established precedents or by applying common recipes. The leader who knowingly ventures off or beyond the beaten track, the path of well-trodden expectations, is showing some degree of imagination. His or her ventures may turn out to be fruitless, random, or crazy. For leaders who dream dreams may be pathfinders, but they may also lead themselves and others into the bankruptcy courts. Of those who depart from well-established ways, only a few are explorers. ‘Imaginative,’ ‘inventive’ and ‘adventurous’ are terms of praise but, equally, ‘fanciful,’ ‘reckless’ and ‘crazy’ describe those who are failed imaginative thinkers (Hoyle and Wilmore 1995).
Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum
For the prime minister of Dubai, risk-taking plays a crucial role in his leadership position and social image. He cannot accept and follow the strategies used by two other leaders. From his interviews, it is evident that risk-taking is based on careful thinking and a choice between alternatives. Intuition is the main tool that helps him to find the right direction and the right strategy. Thus, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum argues that intuition is based on deep knowledge of the problems and their consequences in a historical context. For him, risk-taking is about giving direction, but it has to be the right direction. That calls for a practical intellectual ability, both natural and educated, which issues clear thinking and correct decisions. When Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum started building the island on the sea he accepted a high risk of approving this project. Today, the country gains billions of dollars from tourism and recreation facilities. This case shows that thought precedes decision; decision leads to action. Depending on the circumstances, and especially upon the degree of crisis, as a leader, the prime minister needs to know when to cut off the debate and initiate the action phase. Intuition is sensing situations as they really are when the evidence is incomplete. It can be distorted by anxiety or fear, and it should always be tested by reason or experiment before being accepted. ‘In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,’ but even a leader with partial vision may sometimes rely upon the blind man’s guide dog — intuition.
Conclusion
Personal examples and analysis of the leaders’ traits show that leaders can adopt very different styles, depending upon their personalities, their peoples, and their times thus they use similar techniques and skills which help them to achieve personal success and inspire their followers. The chief reason is a steady and deep shift in values, like a movement of the continental plates, a seismic change that underlies all our national cultures, shaking some more than others. The higher value placed upon the individual, fed from classical and Biblical sources, has led to much more emphasis on education. Men and women are assumed to be born, in all important aspects, free and equal. Leadership is probably more caught than taught. Three main characteristics show that the motivation and development of employees are at the heart of effective leadership. Risk-taking is inevitable for leaders because they have to accept responsibility for their decisions and find new methods and solutions for doing business or governing the organization.
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